Lakelands Public Health (LPH) medical officer of health, Dr. Thomas Piggott, says the recently-merged organization will seek feedback from the public and key community stakeholders this year to help form future goals and objectives regionwide.
Piggott noted the public-facing second phase of LPH’s strategic planning process will begin in March and run through summer. The health unit will host focus group sessions, community town halls, targeted interviews and will launch a survey – all designed to shape the work at LPH, both short and long term.
“We will be using these methods as an opportunity to highlight the recent changes made and help people understand what LPH does,” Piggott said. “We want to gather insights around our vision and mission, while gathering priorities to inform our strategic plan.”
During the first phase, completed last year, consultant Arising Collective engaged with 198 staff members to gauge how they felt the merger had gone and what could be improved. Now into the second year of the union between Peterborough Public Health and the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge district health unit, Piggott acknowledged things haven’t been as seamless as he’d like.
Jenn Harrington, representing Arising Collective, told the board at a Jan. 21 meeting that staff have faced some real challenges.
“There’s a sense of erosion of trust in this journey, a concern the senior leadership team has not been functioning cohesively, about management capacity – the burden on them and making sure they have the resources needed to effectively support their team,” Harrington said. “There was a desire for clearer communication clarifying the scope of authority and responsibilities, a desire for more authentic engagement and follow through, and challenges around the volume of change that’s happening with this merger.”
Dan Joyce, representing Kawartha Lakes on the board, expressed concern over the comments raised, though chair Ron Black said they were to be expected, with interviews taking place approximately six months into the merger.
“Change is hard for a lot of people. I think in any merger of this type, change management is always the biggest issue for the first little while,” Black said.
Piggott added, “some of the challenges were hard for us to hear. I want to acknowledge it’s been a hard year. But now, we need to figure out how we go forward and make this better.”
Despite the concerns raised, Piggott said LPH has not had trouble retaining staff through the first year of the merger.
Dr. Hans Stelzer, a retired Peterborough physician and provincial appointee to the board, asked, given the region’s problems with homelessness, addiction and mental health, how feedback from those groups would be generated given they’re not likely to attend public meetings. Black said that work would be done in collaboration with partner organizations.
“We have a large geography, so we, as a board, need to feed those stakeholders in Haliburton, Coboconk, and Fenelon Falls to [Arising Collective] to make sure we’re engaging with people in all of our areas,” Black said.
Piggott said staff hope to present a strategic plan proposal to the board in late summer or early fall, with a view to adopting something by early 2027.
